Report 2010-106 Highlights - November 2010
Dymally-Alatorre Bilingual Services Act:
State Agencies Do Not Fully Comply With the Act, and Local Governments Could Do More to Address Their Clients' Needs
HIGHLIGHTS
Our review of state and local agencies' compliance with the Dymally-Alatorre Bilingual Services Act (Act) revealed that the State Personnel Board (Personnel Board):
- Has not effectively implemented key recommendations from our 1999 report.
- Is not meeting most of its responsibilities under the Act, including:
- Informing state agencies of their responsibilities and ensuring they assess their clients' language needs.
- Evaluating compliance with the Act and ordering deficient state agencies to take corrective action.
- Ensuring complaints are resolved timely.
- Further, our review of 10 state agencies' compliance with the Act revealed the following:
- Nine conducted required language surveys, yet four reported erroneous results and two could not adequately support their results.
- None had adequate procedures in place to determine compliance with requirements for translation of certain written materials.
- Some are not maximizing opportunities to reduce their bilingual services costs by leveraging existing California Multiple Award Schedules or the Personnel Board's contracts.
Moreover, our survey of administrators and department managers in 25 cities and counties throughout California disclosed the following:
- Some are not fully addressing their clients' bilingual needs.
- Several have not translated materials explaining their services.
- Many are not aware of the Act and do not have formal policies for providing bilingual services.
